A giant rat was allegedly found in a Foot Locker store in Bronx, New York. The photo of the giant rat has made its way all around the internet. The catch here is that the photo was first posted a couple of months ago.
Based on a couple of different Twitter accounts, the picture was posted to the internet sometime in the fall.
“There’s no way it’s a common sewer rat,” Dr. Robert S. Voss, the Curator of Mammals at The American Museum of Natural History in New York, said after looking at the picture. “I’m 90 percent certain that it’s a Gambian pouched rat.”
Voss also estimated that the rat has to be around 2.5 feet in length based on the picture.
A Gambian pouched rat made news headlines a year ago when one was killed in Brooklyn’s Marcy houses.
Voss also claims that this rat could have been a pet that was released by its owner or that escaped from its owner’s grasp.
These types of rats used to be imported to the United States so they could be sold as pets. But, in the 2000s, the import of the rats was banned because of an outbreak of monkeypox.
Voss also said that the rat is docile and harmless, even though it is huge in size. Even though the rat does not pose any harm, Voss recommended walking away from the rat immediately and then calling animal control.
The Foot Locker in question is located on Fordham Road in The Bronx. An employee associated with the photo said he could not comment on the issue.